The Last Story
by TulipsofIsolation
Summary: The man could tell a story. That much was a fact. Yet he knew, had been there seen with his own eyes when they pulled Hermione Granger from the woods. She couldn't have possibly survived. Could she Written for the amazing TheMourningMadames Where Gods Dwell fest!
1. Chapter 1

Hello lovelies!

Yes the other story is a WIP, I know its been forever and you probably think I've abandoned you but it is written, its just not how I want to end it yet. This fun little fest piece was written after the Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. I selected the darker. Please read and give some love! Also find the other pieces and give them some love too!

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He could feel the shadows around him, they were always around him. Always watching him from a distance. Making sure he was alive. The last of the Order. He was it. All that was left of the ones who were supposed to win this dreaded war.

No one was truly sure when the Order lost the war.

The water dripped from the rocks above his head and he placed his dry mouth to its hard surface. The cracks in his lips stung momentarily as the cool water met them.

He rested his head on the rock and looked at the figure curled into a ball in the cell next to him.

No, that wasn't true though. There were some that had come and gone, left him here to rot in this prison. Some thought they were sure that they knew the exact moment that the war was lost to the dark.

There was some debate in the years that followed, when the world went dark and those that had been fighting for the light had turned to hiding in shadows. The fear of being caught and trapped had caused them all to try and hide. Those like himself were held in cages, those worse off were killed on sight.

Worse than him. Those who had the pleasure of being able to die. The relief of it. Those that wouldn't have to endure the years of screaming that came along with being trapped in hell.

No, no one really knew when this all began.

Some say it was with the death of Hermione Granger and her ideas. Those potentially life altering ideas that blurred the line on good and bad. Those ideas that could have altered the ending.

Others felt it was the day Draco Malfoy went missing, presumed to be also dead, though good riddance if he must say so himself.

Neville shook his head to clear the thoughts, they wouldn't do him any good now. He had heard the stories that had led up to the end of the war. The true end, when both light and dark ceased to exist and terror instead took its place.

When Harry Potter fell was all that mattered to Neville. That was the moment the war was lost in his eyes.

The dark walls of the cell he found himself in felt as if they would close in any moment. He rocked slightly as the terror fought to overtake him. He pushed his nails into the palm of his hand, trying to bring himself back to reality. He needed to know what was happening in the real world, away from these four walls and bars that he found himself in. He had lost track of time and It had been some time since he had heard anything from either side. Those that came and went, light and dark, it didn't matter they all came in through the same doors. They once came in telling stories of where they had been, what was happening. Screaming and ranting. Mad. Now they came in mute.

The world had no room for gossip and stories. The terror that was happening outside had been clear in their eyes, he did not need the words that spun tightly behind the skeleton faces. Not when he could see it. When those that came in weren't whole. Physically, mentally, it did not matter. They would all die eventually.

Except for him.

He picked at the dirt beneath his nail.

No one was truly sure when the order lost the war.

The stranger rolled to their back and winced grabbing onto their side. Winced, released such a small noise yet it was deafening. He cleared his throat and felt the pain shoot through him. He opened his mouth and willed words to come out. Trying until he finally found his voice.

"Can you speak?" Neville asked walking to the bars

"Aye, I can." It sighed allowing their body to relax into the stones below them. Neville sighed and tried not to smile. A talking one, someone that had their mind about them. Someone who had been outside the walls.

"How many years has it been?"

"Since?" the man asked

"Since, since? Since the end."

"Three since the death." He coughed, Neville let his hands fall from the bars. Three since the death. Three long years since Harry had fallen, since he had been sent to this cage to die.

Why, why was he able to live through it when others hadn't. Could never get anything right, how could you mess up this badly. He shook his head to clear his thoughts.

"Are you sure? Really sure?" The stranger nodded and Neville sighed.

"Do you remember when we lost the war?"

"Aye, I remember that well."


	2. Chapter 2

She had to beat them to the clearing, that was the only way this would work. She had to run faster than them and make it to the point, she would be able to defeat them then.

Hermione Granger ran as fast as her feet would allow through the trees, she weaved in and out of them seamlessly, avoiding the branches that reached out trying to grab her as she passed.

"Expelliarmus" she pointed her wand and screamed behind her as a stinging hex missed her check by centimeters. She had lost Harry and Ron; she could no longer hear their breaths in tune with her own. She had to pray that they had simply hid or made it before she did. Her lungs burned as she pushed faster, they were nearly there, the apparition point was on the other side of the tree line. She would make it, for the order, she had to make it.

She nearly cried out when she passed the ward, raising her wand she sent a curse flying into the woods behind her. She scanned the tree line searching for the men that had been there only seconds before. They were gone. No that couldn't be right, they had been right behind her, how could they be gone?

She screamed as the arms grabbed her around the waist.

"Hold still" he grunted in her ear as he apparated away.

She woke in the dark. It was cold, musty, she could feel the dirt beneath her fingers as she controlled her breathing, now wasn't the time to panic. She had been caught, God how could she have been so stupid to allow them to get behind her. She had trained harder than that, had made sure others always protected their backs and here she was face down in the dirt in the dark. Quickly she made a mental note of her appendages. She hadn't splinched, physically she was okay. As okay as could be expected at least. She could feel a dull pain in the back of her head and reached an arm around to feel at the wound. She winced at the contact and raised her head. She could hear the shuffle of robes behind her.

She needed to move and fast. She needed to disarm whoever was in the room and get out of here. Quietly she reached for the wand at her side and could feel the relief flood through her as he hand made contact. She forced her body to move, felt the muscles ache in protest and turned to face the wizard behind her.

"Come into the light you coward!" she screamed to the shadow. She could see the outline of a figure, knew he was there watching her. Her vision doubled and she stumbled slightly as she moved into position to attack. She heard him laugh and she gritted her teeth, bracing herself against the wall behind her. Stone. She was in a cave, the lack of light and the smell of the earth made since now. She willed her eyes to focus as she tried to take in the figure moving through the shadows.

"What are you so afraid of? Why won't you come out from your shadow." She yelled and winced as the noise reverberated back to her.

"You're lucky its me that caught you and not the others. For someone so smart, so valuable. The Order once again proved their weakness letting you go out alone. Don't you know how important you are Granger."

It was male that much was sure, the lithe in his voice was familiar. It wasn't until she heard her name roll effortlessly off his tongue that she feltthe blood drain from her face and she gripped at her wand tighter.

"Show yourself." She cringed when her eyes met the steal blue. The pure anger and heat that radiated off him as he stared daggers into her. She had really done it now.

"I thought you were smarter than that Granger, smart enough not to split up, to look at your surroundings, and to not run headfirst into a clearing full of the enemy."

"How did you get behind me? There was no one in the clearing, it was supposed to be warded all of it was, there wasn't supposed to be anyone behind me until we left." She could feel the adrenaline pulsing through her and she shook her head wincing as the pain struck her again.

"Yes and now I have you. You're lucky I was the first one to get you. You walked into a snake's den and you were too stupid to even realize how reckless that was."

"Are you chastising me?" She scoffed at him and fell into the wall as he quickly approached.

"Yes, I am chastising you. They left you. The wonder twins left you to fend for yourself. Get Potter to safety but leave behind the one thing that could end this war." He grabbed her face and pulled her head down to inspect the back of it before scoffing and releasing her.

"What is the matter with you? Are you crazy?" he turned and pointed at her, she could see the anger in his eyes, watch as they slowly morphed from blue to grey. She needed to get far away from him. "Get me out of this cave, I need to get away, back to the Order." She felt her away around the walls, there had to be an opening here somewhere.

He laughed and she felt like cold water had been poured down her back. He continued to laugh as she stared at him in bewilderment.

"You have no idea, not even the slightest idea of the situation you find yourself in do you? You've been out cold for two days. Not a lot has happened in your world but the whole world has just felt he loss of it and here you are trying your hardest to get back to them when they weren't even doing the one thing they should have done. Protect you." Her hand stalled and she turned back to him, meeting his eyes.

"What are you saying?"

"The Order has announced you as dead."

"That can't be, they would never"

"There was a funeral yesterday. They waited one day before announcing to the world that the beloved Hermione Granger, the brain behind the organization, was deceased. The search party for your body lasted one full hour before they pulled some sad sob out of the words and called it done. They have announced they will not fall for the tricks of the dark lord as he tried to lure them with the promise of your return. There is no one to go back to." She felt the air release from her lungs and she sank to her knees then. That couldn't be true, he was lying that was the only expectation. Ron and Harry, they couldn't have given up on her that easily. They had always moved mountains to get back to each other. It was a trick, a horrible horrible trick.

"No" she shook her head and placed her palms on the floor. Pulling from the stability that it would offer her. It had to be a trick and trap set in place. When he threw the Profit in front of her and she saw the picture of the three of them from school. Laughing. She openly wept.

"Granger, you have to let me help you. I'm all you have left."


	3. Chapter 3

Neville shook his head and laughed at the stranger.

"Glad I could amuse you." The stranger said laughing in return. Laughter, it was wrong, cruel.

"That's funny, but whoever told you that was lying. I've heard many lies since being here and that one there was almost convincing. I was there though, when they pulled the body out of the woods. There were so many Nettle stings on her that she was hard to identify but they did."

The stranger settled further into the ground and grunted.

"I'm not sure who you pulled from that forest that day, but I can assure you, from what I heard she was alive and well for many years."

"Who did you hear it from?" Neville clutched at the bars between them and tried to make out the man further. His long hair was stained red and brown, his face was gaunt, it was no use. Whomever he was before was long gone compared to who was in from of him now.

"Ahhh, I can't tell you that. Besides I'm nothing but a storyteller to you. You wouldn't believe me even if I told you."

They were silent then.

Silence was comfortable, better even. He had grown used to the silence. As the years had gone on, he had heard his fair share of screams and tears, silence was always better that that ever had been. Silence meant the nightmare would be over soon. The shadows would get tired of watching him and would end it. Quickly. Something he had once dreamed about back when he could dream anything but darkened. The stranger snored slightly, and Nevil paced.

A good story that one had but It had to be a lie. He had heard many strange things about the war, but the survival of Hermione Granger was a new one and try as he might he could not wrap his head around it.

It had taken Harry two days. No three days, three days after the burial to believe that she was truly gone. Many felt that that was the moment the sides switched for good. When Harry believed that without her, they would not win.

The water had stopped running down the wall and he sighed. It would be another day gone in the cell. The water stopped running when the night came, at least he assumed it was night, the walls that incased him had no way of telling him that. At one time the water flowed during the day, it was day when he had arrived and the water trickled in then stopped abruptly at night.

Maybe it had changed.

Maybe it was really morning and they switched it on him.

Nevil shook his head and beat his hands on his temple. What a waste of magic.

But there was another prisoner, that was good, he was not forgotten then. They would bring food tomorrow, two days apart, tomorrow was the day the food would come because he was not forgotten, the cells were still being used. They would come tomorrow.

The stranger stirred then causing Nevil to come out of his mind.

"So did he help her?" Nevil asked.

"I'm sorry?"

"Draco, did he help her then or torture her?"

The man laughed then and sat up.

"I was told he helped her, I was told he loved her too. I was also told she loved him back."


	4. Chapter 4

The past months had been nothing but pure agony.

She had tried everything in her power to get away from him, a part of him wanted to allow her to escape. A part that grew every time she opened her mouth and spat out some ridiculous idea that was sure to get them both killed. She wanted out, he wanted to stay.

For someone so smart, she had to be the dumbest person he knew.

He sighed to himself as he watched her inspecting the invisible line he had drawn around the clearing. He tossed rocks into the fire and watched the sparks fly and her pace.

It was pure and utter agony.

"Will you please just sit down!" he screamed out throwing another rock in her direction. She turned and stuck her tongue out at him in return before bending down and looking closer at the ground. Groaning he stood and walked to join her.

"They can't get in can they?" she asked as he approached and he bent to her level and looked over her shoulder through the wards, it was then that he saw the movement, a green snake weaved its way through the grass approaching the meadow and its warmth it would provide?

"The snake? Yes it can." He asked and she shook her head.

"The snake doesn't bother me, keep looking." He rolled his eyes and stared into the distance. It was a moment but as he watched the shadows moved wrong, something about the way they crossed the trees wasn't right. "There's people out there aren't there. Beyond the ward." As she spoke, he could see the brief outline of a man as it disappeared again.

"Yes, I'm sure they can feel the magic. But the closer they get to the ward the less they remember about why they're here and wander away again. You stay behind this circle, then they can't find you. You go out there I can't help you." He whispered in her ear and delighted at the small shiver that went through her.

Good, fear was better than nothing. It showed that deep down she was listening to him, to the reason for keeping her locked away with him. Voldemort wanted her as a weapon, had people actively looking for her even after being told she was dead. She was valuable to him, hidden the Order had a chance.

He watched as the sun played with the colors in her hair, he reached out and tucked a strand behind her ear before rising.

"Why are you even helping me?" she asked for the hundredth time and he raised his head to the sky and felt the sun kiss his face.

"I have more in life than some but less in life than others. I can talk my way into and out of most situations. But when they came to me, told me the awful things they were going to do. Break you, make you into something that not even you would look in the mirror and recognize, a walking weapon that they could use in anyway they wanted against the order. I couldn't talk myself out of that, so I needed to steal it." He watched as she paced the grounds. She was thinking and that small crease between her eyebrows was pulled together. "You're an intelligent witch, the brightest of your year, some would kill to get your power. Kill to have you on their side. Willing or not. I couldn't watch them take that." He finished walking away and into the cave that had become their home.

She watched the snakes make their way from the grass to the tree and shuddered. There were always snakes here. She had fibbed a bit, snakes bothered her more than she would let on. You never knew when they were planning to attack or not. When they were going to rise up and decide that you were a bother to them. She steered clear of snakes and men.

She turned towards a noise behind her and watched as Draco cleared the ground for the garden they were going to grow. Make this place livable, she had told him one day, the less they had to sneak out and get the safe they would be. It had been months since she had seen the shadows beyond the trees and each time she could feel the malice cut through her. Inside the circle she was safe. With him she was safe.

"Magic would be quicker." She walked behind him hands on her hips.

"Quicker yes, but a lot less rewarding." He turned towards her and smiled and her heart jumped in her chest. He had not been rude to her, had even comforted her when she cried, something she would never have believed to be true. When she asked for information, he risked it all to grab a small radio for her to listen to. When it went silent, he had resorted to stealing papers. She was grateful for him, and at the same time she urged to leave and help. They were losing the war on the outside, she could tell that much. They needed her as badly as the other side wanted her. Yet Draco had her and asked nothing of her.

"Can I help?" she knelt down next to him and he handed her a tool.

He felt her arms around him and he smiled as he stirred from sleep. They had come a long way the year since he had brought her here. They had built a small twisted life together. He loved every second of it despite himself. The first time he pulled her to him, he had felt a peace he never believed could belong to him. She had been crying, the news of another death, one she felt she could stop had sent her into a whirlwind of emotion. He had grabbed her and held on until it passed. That was the first time he knew he loved her and when she looked up at him and placed a kiss to his cheek he knew that somewhere deep down she had loved him too.

They had spent many nights exploring just how far the love was going to take them.

Her arms pulled him tighter to herself and he chuckled slightly as she rolled on top of him, he smiled as the long hair tickled around his face. He reached up to trap her in place, but she pulled away quickly laughing.

"No, you don't, we have to get out today. You promised you would get info." He groaned and reached for her again. Catching her and pulling her down for a long kiss. Her brown eyes smiled and rolled as she pulled away and moved off the cots.

She called him a poet and it made him laugh. He had been called many things, but a poet was not one. He weaved stories to keep her mind at ease and her brain working. He made her laugh and held her when she cried.

No, He had not only won her heart, he had surrendered his in the process.

He pulled his pants on and watched from the entrance as she wondered around the clearing, her hair blew behind her in the wind as she walked along the tree line. He shook his head and marveled as the sun kissed her skin and she soaked it in. he hated how worried she was, that much worry and guilt could ruin someone. He wanted to yell at her to come back in, to make the worry go away but his eyes caught movement behind her. He waited for it and watched as it moved again.

A snake.

She had tried to tell him she wasn't afraid of the snakes in the clearing but she couldn't help the tremors that would go through her as they approached. Usually he would laugh, but this time he couldn't get words out, she was to close to the edge. He made to yell out as she turned and noticed it, she let out a scream and backed away.

He could feel the magic run through his veins as her foot crossed the ward, the breath held in his lungs and he ran towards her. If he could get there first. He screamed her name and she turned, eyes wide as hands snaked around her waist pulling her away from the clearing, away from him.

He blinked and she was gone. He dove across the line, wand drawn and wildly spun around waiting for the attack that never came. They didn't need him. They had what they wanted, they had her.


	5. Chapter 5

"He was delusional enough to only ward the clearing. They had come to an understanding that if they stayed in place, never stepped foot outside of it. She would never be found. They had spent year behind the ward and yet all it took was a snake to make her cross over. Ironic no?"

"So they had her then?" Neville tore at the bread that had appeared before him, he had thrown a piece through the bars to the man with the stories. His food had not come, one piece would be enough to get Neville through the days, he had lived longer on less.

"They had her, it was exactly what they wanted. Did the order really not know? I thought they knew about everything that was happening."

"If they did it wasn't something that I was ever told about. I wasn't incredibly high in rank with the Order, but I was still slipped secrets now and then. Luna, bless her, before she died, she used to tell me things. I would have thought that would have been something she would have said. That to me, would have signaled hope. Imagine, Hermione Granger out there walking around. She could bring a stop to all this, pave a way to freedom. They stopped mentioning her though. Harry hadn't handled her death well; I think they wanted to make sure he was still mentally able to fight."

"That did them some good huh." Neville shook his head as the man coughed. The small amount of blood that escaped his lips mixed with the breadcrumbs, it caused himself to feel faint. Blood had never been his strong suite, not since she had left him. The man sighed letting his hand fall back down from his mouth.

"What side did you fight on?" Neville asked adverting his eyes.

"None, both, didn't really matter in the end though. I still ended up in a cell when it was all said and done."

"No, seems just about anyone ends up down here. What did you do." The man smiled, the most malicious smile Neville had seen it caused him to shrink back a bit.

"Attempted theft was the final charge, I wasn't very good at it, let my mind get in the way. You?"

"Traitor." Neville shrugged and allowed the silence to overcome them. The dripping of the water filled the silence as they both ate.

"So, when they took her was that the end of it? Did anyone hear from her again?"

The stranger rolled to his side, his back facing the bars and he sighed. Neville waited patiently, picking at the dirt on the floor again. The silence stretched on for what felt like forever.

"I was told he came for her; seems his heart just couldn't let her go"


	6. Chapter 6

He felt an anger that had evaded him for some time fill him the closer he came to the manor's door. The place that had once been his home, held some of his finest memories, had quickly turned into a prison for most of Britain.

Draco pounded his fist on the door of the manor. The sound echoed in his heart as the vibration moved through his fist.

"Let me in now!" He yelled banging on the door again. Slowly it opened and he locked eyes with death eater on the other side. He held his fist to his side as he fought to punch the smile off the man's face.

"Where is she?" he yelled as he pushed through the door and into the hall.

"Was mighty stupid of you to show your face around here Draco, did you really think we wouldn't find your little hide out one day?" Theodore Nott walked down the stairs of the manor and shook his head "Did you think you would just wait him out? That he would one day forget, and all would be well? You could go about your lives?" Draco rolled his shoulders back and held his head high.

"I was keeping her safe, away from the Order, yet alive. That's more than anyone here would have done had they gotten ahold of her." Theo shook his head and chuckled slightly.

"You won't be able to talk your way out of this one. He has her right where he wants her. Caged."

"Take me to her Nott, please, just let me figure this out. We worked together to get out of worse as kids, I'm not asking you to let us walk away I just need to see her. I have to know she's okay."

"She's in the dungeons. Not a soul down there is okay. If you can make it down to that hell hole you can see her" Draco pushed passed him and went for the stairs.

"Draco be warned, not many are coming back up those stairs in one piece anymore. Not many are coming back up those stairs at all." With that Nott turned and walked out the door. Draco stared at the staircase before him, into the black of the bottom, before walking into hell.

The smell hit him first, he had known there would be corpses, death was a part of war. But to be confronted with it head on made his stomach churn. He slowly took in small breaths to overcome the stench of the bodies of both light and dark that were in these cells. He stared into the abyss that ran from miles beneath the manor. The small murmurs of those that could still make noises filled the air as he passed. Upon realization that someone else was here they soon began to beg.

He kept to quick glances to the cages around him, the first ones he walked past had been nothing but skeletons. Nott was right, the dead had a place here after all. He had looked through the bars of each one, seen the horror that was behind them. He needed to find her and pray he wasn't too late, that she wasn't one of the poor souls that had been torn apart before being thrown away. He walked quickly through the filth on the floor, until finally a small light shot out at him from one of the bars.

"Hermione?" he questioned walking closer to the cell. The small figure huddled in the corner was skeletal. The light that shone came from a small crack in the wall, he could see the blood around the edges and gagged. The girl's hands were torn and bloody. Her eyes held the truth that he did not need spoken out loud to know. The haunting of someone who was passed saving but was not done with the fight.

"Gods." He shook his head "Can you speak? I'm looking for a girl, she would have been brought down here a few days ago now. Please am I close." The figure shook its head and turned back towards the light.

"Keep going." He heard her whisper he nodded his head and continued down.


	7. Chapter 7

He could feel the air around him closing in, could feel every breath enter and leave his lungs. The man had not finished but Neville had.

"When they found Luna, she was nothing but bones, her fingertips were gone. There was blood. Nothing but bloody little stumps. She had had the most beautiful hands, when I had held them they had been so small, so perfect. In the enc she had clawed out of the walls, brought herself to freedom, something none of us could do. Something I could never do. That's who he saw then, she never gave up. Not until the moment she got herself out and she smiled. Turned her face to the sun and smiled. Then she was gone. I couldn't save her; I had promised her I could save her, and I was wrong. We lost soon after that. Days after that, I'm not sure anyone really remembered why we were fighting anymore." He rested his head on the bars. Why were they fighting? Everyone they loved was gone, everyone they thought would join arms with them had ran the other way. They fought to die.

Dying was something they had been so very good at.

He reared his head back and banged it against the bars in front of him. The pain ran down his spine as he leaned back giving it another blow. He could hear a muffled yelling. He went backwards again, hitting the bar before it all went black.

He could feel the rocks hitting his feet as the pain began to come back to him. Dark. Lonely. Painful. That's how it was supposed to be. They were all dead, and he was here, left to rot. To lay in waste.

"Mate, are you alive?" someone was throwing rocks at his feet. A monster, no a man, a man with a story. Telling him a story. About?

Hermione.

That's right.

Gently he touched the mark on his forehead, felt the blood that had ran dry along his face and sat up slowly.

"Gave me a scare there. Wasn't sure if you were going to wake up from that one or not." The man sighed as he tossed another stone into the darkness.

"Did he find her?"

"Are you sure you want to know?" Neville looked at his hands and wiped the blood onto the rags that were his shirt. He thought about it for a moment. Did it matter? If Draco Malfoy had found Hermione, had freed her from this place, she never came to their aid. Did it really matter.

Slowly he nodded

"Aye, he found her."


	8. Chapter 8

The further he ventured into hell the more his skin crawled and his desire to run overtook him. What if this was all a trick? What if the further he went he was walking away from her; she could be anywhere in the manor. Why would they out her here? He fought through the fog of his mind as he wondered further and further. Looking into the eyes of those sentenced to die around him. When he heard the whimper, he could feel it in his heart, quickly he felt relief fill him as he ran to the cage on his left.

"Granger," he whispered reaching his hand through the bars and stroking her cheek. She tried to smile at him but winced. Had it just been yesterday that he held this face in his hands? The one he held now was swollen and bruised and the tears began to fall down from her eyes. "Calm now, I'm going to get you out of here." He pulled his wand out and looked for a lock, something to free here. Instead there was just bars standing tall, nothing visible to free her with. She reached her hand through and grabbed his face locking her eyes with his.

"Draco, you have to promise me, promise me right now, no matter what it takes you will not leave me here. You have to promise me right now. He can't use me against them, please, I would rather die." He nodded and shushed her as sobs racked her body.

"He has plans. Plans that I don't think I can stop. Draco you have to get me out of here. One way or another."

"One way or another, I will. Calm down. I've found you now. I won't go without you." She whimpered and her eyes flickered over his shoulder before she trembled and backed away slowly.

"Draco dear, I was unaware you were going to be visiting us today. You know there are easier ways to get our attention without disturbing our guests." He could feel the muscles tense in his shoulders as he stood and turned to look at the witch behind him.

"Aunt Bella, you know I was entrusted with her care. I had to see with my own eyes that it was truly our own that had taken her with them. Not one of the Orders schemes. Must we really lock her up with the rest of them? Surely we can allow for a more comfortable accommodations for a guest such as herself?"

"A fine talker as always my dear. Why don't you ask him yourself, he's heard of your arrival, He wishes to talk about how well you've…. Cared… for our guest." She smiled and turned then.

An audience he wanted, an audience he would get.

"I will not leave you down here. Bet on that Granger. One way or another remember." She nodded and he rose to meet the king of hell himself.

The room he found himself in smelled of the fear of others. It clung in the air pulling at his skin. Many had died here, many had yelled, begged and pleaded to the man in front of him now. He stared into the snake like eyes of the Dark Lord as he bowed.

"My Lord, I have come to request her removal from this place. She needs to be protected from both sides. She has already suffered greatly in the day away from me. I thought the goal was for her to live?" Voldemort laughed then. He felt the bumps go across his skin as the man laughed.

"She was to live with me Draco, you know as well as I that was the plan. She was to become my right hand; my final blow was to come from her wand. Yet she died quite mysteriously after my intentions were made no? Her soul is mine. You know as well as any other."

"She will be of more use alive." Voldemort cut him off with a move of his hand and Draco stepped back. He could feel his pulse beat in his chest as the Dark Lord thought through the silence.

"You feel for her, don't you? There's not since in denying it. I can see it clearly on your face. There is something that has drawn her to yourself." He smiled then; the points of his teeth flashed for a moment as those around them laughed to themselves.

"I care for her wellbeing. You asked for her alive and well, yet she sits bruised and battered in a cell in the dungeon that's been built here. She sits next to the corpses of our enemies. Yet you claim you want her well" Draco could feel his pulse beating rapidly as the man in front of him eyes narrowed to slits.

"Very well. You think you are better suited to care for her? Fine. She is yours to care for. Get her out of this dungeon as you call it, and she is yours. Yours to keep away from the war." Draco felt his heart leap in his chest. This couldn't be right, he heard the murmurs around him, the dark lord raised his hand and the whispers quieted. Draco nodded and turned. When out of sight he ran back to her cage and saw the door had vanished.

"Draco I don't understand?" She whispered running to him as he approached. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead.

"I think he's letting us go." Draco whispered into her and she shook her head side to side.

"It's a trap. It has to be a trap. He wouldn't let me go, he showed me his plan." She sobbed again and he held her tighter.

"We don't have time to debate it" He grabbed her hand and lead the way through the tunnels. "Don't look through the bars, just keep your head down, watch my steps and follow me out. We have to go now." He heard her sharp inhale and exhale and knew she had regrouped herself. She was the brave Gryffindor, whatever use that would do for her, they would make it out of here. One way or another. His eyes darted left and right as he led her to freedom.

He saw movement ahead and slowed slightly, there were bodies ahead of them, calling to them. He could feel her squeeze his hand, signaling that she had seen them too. The men ahead of him had their wands drawn and he felt the air brake from his lungs. It was a trap, it had always been a trap, they were never going to get out of here. The days at the meadow, laughing and crying together would be over. There would be no more stolen kisses, no more love, she would be a weapon. He could feel the panic settle in as the men began to move towards them. He reached to his waist and pulled the dagger from his belt he turned to her then, the knife strong and steady in his palm. As he smiled at her, the tears forming in the corner of his eyes and drove the knife to the hilt into her abdomen. He could feel the screams around him, could see the light in her eye as her head nodded slightly in understanding. He fell to the ground with her, pressing kisses to her forehead.

"it's okay, we will be okay." She muttered brushing the hair back from his face. The hot tears fell from his eye as he was pulled from her. He watched as she went limp and the cruacius hit him hard and fast.


	9. Chapter 9

"It was the end of both of them." The man pulled his hand through his hair and laid one hand across his face.

"He killed her then? To keep her away from them?" The man nodded and Neville sat back on his hunches. "What happened to him then?"

"I was told he was imprisoned then, in these very walls. The Dark Lord didn't like the idea of being bested like that. He wanted to keep Hermione for himself, the guards were supposed to kill Draco before he could ever get out. They weren't expecting the hunting knife he carried, wasn't expecting such a muggle was to end it all. He was sentenced to death. After many years of torture." Neville watched the man as he stared at the ceiling, he shook his head then and laughed. "You sure know how to weave a story. If that's the last story I ever hear it was a bloody good one."

The man turned and looked at him then. The crystal blue eyes that peered into his own were watery and blood shot. "Aye, nothing but a good story. I've been called a poet once or twice." He smiled then and looked back at the ceiling.

Neville shook his head again and smiled.

He could hear the man next to him as he sniffled. Neville laid back and looked at the ceiling, heard the slamming of a door as the men came and took the man next to him away. He had not screamed like the others.

Neville hoped he would be back, hoped that they would return him like they sometimes did the others. They always forgot about him, one day they would kill him.

Hermione and Draco had lucked out, one had died before things got bloody and the other had simply disappeared.

Neville felt himself somber then.

Not one truly knew when they had lost the war.

Not even the story teller.


End file.
